Blog Tour: Wax by Gina Damico @ginadamico

Paraffin, Vermont, is known the world over as home to the
Grosholtz Candle Factory. But behind the sunny retail space bursting with
overwhelming scents and homemade fudge, seventeen-year-old Poppy Palladino
discovers something dark and unsettling: a back room filled with dozens of
startlingly life-like wax sculptures, crafted by one very strange old lady.
Poppy hightails it home, only to be shocked when one of the figures—a teenage
boy who doesn’t seem to know what he is—jumps naked and screaming out of the
trunk of her car. She tries to return him to the candle factory, but before she
can, a fire destroys the mysterious workshop—and the old woman is nowhere to be
seen.

With the help of the wax boy, who answers to the name Dud,
Poppy resolves to find out who was behind the fire. But in the course of her
investigation, she discovers that things in Paraffin aren’t always as they
seem, that the Grosholtz Candle Factory isn’t as pure as its reputation—and
that some of the townspeople she’s known her entire life may not be as human as
they once were. In fact, they’re starting to look a little . . . waxy. Can
Poppy and Dud extinguish the evil that's taking hold of their town before it’s
too late?

Today we welcome Gina for an interview!

1. Did you always know you wanted to be a writer or did you

want to be something else?

I have wanted to be: a marine biologist, an illustrator, a
baseball

player, a garbage truck driver, an actor, a set designer, an
architect,

and a doctor. I didn’t want to be a writer until I became a
writer.

Funny how things work out like that.

2. How long does it take you to write a book from start to

finish?

That’s a hard question to answer because for me, novels come
in fits

and starts – I’ll have an idea and putter around with it for
an

undetermined period of time, then write the first few
chapters, then

solidify those for a while, then take a break, then come
back to it and

write the rest of the draft. Usually I can write a whole
draft in about

three months, but that’s only because I’m on a deadline –
I’d probably

take more time than that if I had it. And then, of course,
there are

revisions, more revisions, copyedits. The whole process,
start to

finish, usually takes about a year.

3. How do you come up with themes for your stories?

I normally start with three elements: 1) two characters, 2)
a

relationship between them, and 3) a weird plot thingy. Then
I mix

those things together, see what happens, and fill in the
rest of the

novel around it. For WAX, it’s 1) Dud and Poppy, 2) he is a
wax boy

come to life and she inadvertently adopts him, and 3) their
town is

famous for its candle factory, and weird things are starting
to happen

to its population.

4. Do you have a schedule of when you write?

I wish. I don’t have a set time to write, nor do I write
every day. I find

it works better for me if I write when I feel like it, and
don’t write

when I don’t. Otherwise, I’m forcing it, and that work is
never as

good.

5. How are you able to balance other aspects of your life

with your writing?

I try not to let it take over my life, so I generally don’t
write on

weekends or at night - unless the mood strikes, which it
sometimes

does. But more often than not, I’m writing inside my head no
matter

what I’m doing, so I like to mix up my free time with enough
stuff to

keep inspiring me all the time. After all, the setting for
WAX came to

me when I stopped at a flagship candle store on a road trip.
If you

want to write a book, you’ve got to get out of the house
first.

6. What elements do you think make a great story line?

Constantly upping the stakes. No one is going to care about
what

happens to characters who feel safe all the time. There
needs to be

something on the line, or someone in danger – and it doesn’t
have to

be physical danger. Emotional risks can be just as
compelling. Also,

there should be junk food. All of my books feature junk
food, so I’m

starting to think it’s mandatory.

7. What was the hardest thing about writing a book?

Finishing it right.

8. How many books have you written so far? Do you have a

favorite?

I’ve written five books, with a sixth coming out next year,
and I don’t

play favorites because they’d beat me in my sleep if I did.

9. Do you have a favorite character?

In my books, or in all books? I like Amelia Bedelia. I think
we could

be great friends, and I’d get to feel intellectually
superior.

10. Where do you write?

Either in my office or on my couch, depending on how I’m
feeling.

Occasionally I’ll go to a café if I’m feeling too
cabin-feverish. But

people generally annoy me, and it’s too easy to get annoyed
at a café. I

can’t shout at everyone to quiet down and let me write. Not
anymore,

anyway. So the couch it is!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Gina. It was great having you here!

Gina Damico is the
author of Croak, Scorch, and Rogue, the
grim-reapers-gone-wild books of the Croak trilogy. She has also dabbled as a
tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie
extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker and breadmonger. A native of
Syracuse, New York, she now lives outside Boston with her husband, two cats,
and one dog, and while she has never visited hell in person, she has spent
countless waking hours at the Albany Regional Bus Terminal,
which is pretty darn close. Visit her website at www.ginadami.co.